1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording method, an information recording apparatus, and an information recording medium.
2. Related Art of the Invention
In recent years, with an increase in capacity of information apparatuses such as computers, optical disks have been receiving greater attention as recording media.
Hereinafter, a conventional optical disk cartridge will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 14 is a plan view of a conventional optical disk cartridge.
As shown in FIG. 14, an optical disk 201 is a recording medium capable of being used for information recording and reproduction. A case 202 is provided for housing the optical disk 201 therein to protect it from dirt such as dust and fingerprints. A window 203 is provided on the case 202 for enabling information recording and reproduction onto and from the optical disk 201 when the optical disk 201 is mounted in an information recording/reproducing apparatus. Normally, the window 203 is closed by a slide shutter. Here we call such case in which the optical disk is stored, as a cartridge 204.
Generally in an optical disk 201 which is capable of recording/reproducing, if the surface is blemished by fingerprints or dust, the power applied from the semiconductor laser to the recording surface becomes lower than an appropriate value, so that the reliability of recording markedly degrades.
To avoid the degradation of the reliability, the recording/reproducing optical disk 201 described with reference to FIG. 14, such as an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) data file and a mini disk (MD), is cased as described above.
Subsequently, a reproduction-only-type optical disk (not shown) such as a compact disk (CD) and a laser disk (LD) will be described.
Unlike the disk described with reference to FIG. 14, the reproduction-only-type optical disk, on which information is never written by the user, is directly mounted in a reproducing apparatus for reproduction without being cased. This type of reproducing apparatus is capable of reproduction only from optical disks not being cased.
Consequently, a problem arises that the reproducing apparatus designed for reproduction only from reproduction-only-type optical disks is incapable of reproduction from the recording/reproduction-type optical disk 201 shown in FIG. 14 since the optical disk 201 is stored in the case 202.
To solve this problem, a cartridge 214 structured as shown in FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b) has been devised. FIG. 15(a) is a plan view showing a condition where the optical disk 201 is housed in a case 212. FIG. 15(b) is a plan view showing a condition where the optical disk 201 is being taken out from the case 212.
As shown in FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b), the case 212 is provided for housing the optical disk 201 therein and has a window 203 used for recording and reproduction. Over the window 203, a slide shutter 213 is provided. An opening/closing door 211 pivotably provided at an opening formed at an end of the case 212 is used for taking out the optical disk 201 from the case 212.
The cartridge 214 thus structured is mountable in reproduction-only-type apparatuses because the optical disk 201 can be taken out from the case 212 by opening the door 111.
In this way, reproduction from the cased recording/reproduction-type optical disk 201 can be performed by using reproducing apparatuses capable of reproduction from reproduction-only-type optical disks.
On the other hand, a recording/reproducing system called a jukebox 223 is known where a plurality of recording/reproduction-type optical disks 201 are housed in a stocker 221 without being cased and a recording/reproducing section 222 performs recording and reproduction onto and from the optical disks 201 (see FIG. 16).
In the jukebox 223, since the optical disks 201, which are factory-mounted in the stocker 221, are never touched by the user, the surfaces of the optical disks 203 are hardly blemished by scratches or fingerprints.
Additionally, in the jukebox 223, aside from the optical disks 201 factory-mounted in the stocker 221, the user may mount for recording and reproduction the optical disk 201 taken out from the cartridge 214 as shown in FIG. 15.
Thus, the cased recording/reproduction-type optical disk shown in FIG. 15 may be used for the jukebox 223 structured as described above.
However, the following problems are faced by the conventional recording/reproduction-type optical disk from which information can be reproduced by using reproducing apparatuses capable of reproduction only from reproduction-only-type optical disks:
One problem is that once the optical disk 201 is taken out from the case 212, the disk surface is blemished by fingerprints, dust or scratches, so that when the disk 201 is again housed in the case 212 and mounted in a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording, the reliability of the recorded data is markedly degraded because of the blemishes such as fingerprints on the disk surface.
Another problem is that when the conventional recording/reproduction-type optical disk is used in the jukebox 223, the optical disk mounted in the stocker 221 by the user can be blemished, whereas the disks factory-mounted in the stocker 221 are never blemished, so that the levels of reliability of the recorded data differ between the former and latter disks.
An object of the present invention is, in view of the problems of the conventional apparatus, to provide an information recording method, an information recording apparatus and an information recording medium with which the reliability of the recorded data is ever more improved.
On the other hand, while in general, the optical disk capable of being used for information recording and reproduction cannot be used for recording when taken out from the case because its surface is blemished by dust or fingerprints, a special recording/reproducing optical disk, for example, having its surface processed so as not to be readily blemished has been devised.
Moreover, the types of the case include a type from which the optical disk cannot be taken out as shown in FIG. 14 and a type from which the optical disk can be taken out.
Thus, there are two types of optical disks: a type which can be used for recording even when taken out from the case and a type which produces poor results in recording when taken out from the case, and there are two types of cases: a type from which the disk cannot be taken out and a type from which the disk can be taken out.
As the recording/reproducing apparatus, an apparatus is desired capable of recording and reproduction onto and from both cased disks and bare disks.
An object of a recording method of an information recording/reproducing apparatus of the present invention is to provide a recording method for performing appropriate recording by identifying the types of the disks and cases.
The Information recording method of the present invention comprises:
a history determination step for determining whether or not a medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproduction has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has previously been taken out from the case or not; and
a verification step for verifying correctness of information recorded always or on condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied when a result of the determination shows that the medium has previously been taken out from the case.
An information recording apparatus of the present invention comprises:
history determining means for determining whether or not a medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproduction has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has previously been taken out from the case or not; and
verifying means for verifying correctness of information recorded always or on condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied when a result of the determination shows that the medium has previously been taken out from the case.
An information recording apparatus of the present invention comprises:
a stocker for housing therein a predetermined number of media without being cased; and
means for recording information onto the media by using the stocker,
wherein said media includes a medium factory-mounted in the stocker and a medium mounted in the stocker from outside the stocker, and said media each have a data area for writing thereon data to be recorded and a management area for writing thereon management information as to whether the medium has previously been outside the stocker or not.
An information recording medium of the present invention comprises a management area for writing thereon management information to determine whether a medium capable of being used for information recording and reproduction is a medium used without being cased or a medium used being cased.
A recording method of the present invention of an information recording/reproducing apparatus for a first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased and a second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased, said information recording/reproducing apparatus being capable of handling the information recording/reproducing media both when they are not being cased and when they are being cased,
wherein said information recording/reproducing media each have a medium identifying information section indicating whether the medium is the first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased or the second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased,
wherein said case has a case presence/absence information section indicating whether the case is present or absent, and
wherein said information recording/reproducing apparatus recognizes a combination of the kind of the information recording/reproducing medium and the presence or absence of the case by using first detecting means for detecting the contents of the medium identifying information section and second detecting means for detecting the contents of the case presence/absence information section, said information recording/reproducing apparatus changing a recording mode based on a result of the recognition to record information onto the information recording/reproducing medium or perform after-defect-inspection recording or inhibit recording of information.
An information recording/reproducing apparatus of the present invention is for a first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased and a second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased, said information recording/reproducing apparatus being capable of handling the information recording/reproducing media both when they are not being cased and when they are being cased,
wherein said information recording/reproducing media each have a medium identifying information section for indicating whether the medium is the first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased or the second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased,
wherein said case has a case presence/absence information section for indicating whether the case is present or absent, and
wherein said information recording/reproducing apparatus has first detecting means for detecting the contents of the medium identifying information section and second detecting means for detecting the contents of the case presence/absence information section, and recognizes a combination of the kind of the information recording/reproducing medium and the presence or absence of the case, said information recording/reproducing apparatus changing a recording mode based on a result of the recognition to record information onto the information recording/reproducing medium or perform after-defect-inspection recording or inhibit recording of information.
Information recording method of the present invention for;
determining whether or not a medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproducing, has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has previously been taken out from the case or not; and
when a result of the determination shows that the medium has previously been taken out from the case,
for verifying correctness of information after recorded or recording after verification of correctness of information always or on condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied, or inhibiting the recording, if the medium is a first recording/reproducing information medium that is required to use a case at recording, and
for recording normally if the medium is a second recording/reproducing information medium that is not required to use a case at recording.
Information recording apparatus of the present invention comprises;
history determination means for determining whether or not medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproducing, has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has previously been taken out from the case or not; and
means, when a result of the determination shows that the medium has previously been taken out form the case,
for verifying correctness of information after recorded or recording after verification of correctness of information always or on condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied, or inhibiting the recording, if the medium is a first recording/reproducing information medium that is required to use a case at recording, and
for recording normally if the medium is a second recording/reproducing information medium that is not required to use a case at recording.
Information recording medium of the present invention comprises; a medium identifying information area for showing whether a medium is required to be recorded with using a case or not.